Paul Zindel

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Reviewing Mame, Lucille Ball's late-in-life stab at starring in an enormous movie musical, gives me the opportunity to pull out one of my favorite SAT words: execrable. I mean, I love Lucy, but...

One of Hollywood's most famous casting blunders, letting Lucy star as Mame instead of Angela Lansbury, who had conquered Broadway in the same role, was a mistake of epic proportions, not unlike the decision to deny Julie Andrews the starring role in the movie version of My Fair Lady. The legend is that Lucy wanted it really badly and even put up some of her own money to guarantee her spot. I bet Desi Arnaz could have talked her out of it, but something tells me she never asked his opinion.

To say Runaway Train is wholly contrived would be an understatement, but this is one hell of a movie -- all despite a silly setup, a lousy name, the appearance of Eric Roberts (who earned an Oscar nomination), and a Russian director who has done nothing of note before or since. It's a prison break movie with a twist: 30 minutes after the beginning of the film, there's still no train despite the title... but then grizzly convict Jon Voight (also an Oscar nominee) and the dimwit weasel Roberts are away from their Alaskan prison and hop aboard a train, destined to escape the eye of the law. But the engineer promptly dies, falls off the engine, and sends the train into a full-throttle nightmare. Convicts end up teaming with a sleeping assistant (Rebecca De Mornay) to try to stop the train.

Totally ridiculous (and based on the work of Akira Kurosawa!) but very exciting. And this -- or so it seems -- is really shot on a speeding train. No miniatures. Tons of stunts. Insane.